Day 15 Assignments

[Christopher Carlson]

Christopher Carlson’s Height of the Emotion – Assignment #1

What I learned doing this assignment is respecting the opportunity to look again at my emotional beats, and enjoying the freedom of re-thinking them.

2. With each of those scenes, go to the height of the emotion and brainstorm lines that can deliver the deeper meaning of the scene.

When Helen trembles with excitement as Teacher narrates the convergence of the songbirds.

Emotion/meaning: the love expressed by the birds is something beyond what our human characters are capable of expressing.

Dialogue: in progress

Helen, “I can feel their love, Teacher.”
Teacher, “As beautiful as your morning prayer, dear heart.”

When Peter expresses how much he cares for Helen.

Emotion/meaning: Peter’s brave expression of his feelings for Helen allows her a to express her feelings, and for the first time in her life.

Helen, “I admit I found some comfort in your words. They felt like a bright sun to me.”

When Helen expresses how she experiences the world, concluding with their passionate embrace.

Emotion/meaning: Helen describes her passionate relationship with all things of the earth.

Helen, “I couldn’t live without the feel of another person’s hand in mine. It’s something I never forget.”

When Helen’s family foils her plan to elope with Peter, seeing Helen’s utter agony and helplessness.

Emotion/meaning: This beat will provide a visceral understanding of Helen’s limitations, as her family maintains their power and authority over Helen’s life.

Helen simply calling out his name while trying to catch up with him, but failing to do so, “Peter, Peter.”

Helen waking up on the porch, alone, abandoned by Peter.

Emotion/meaning: Helen did everything in her power to enter the realm of the New Ways, but those around her prevailed. The betrayal by her Transforming Agent is the most painful part of it.

Helen’s ultimate reaction to this abandonment is silence. There will be time later for her to express herself on this point, but I believe it’s best not to do it in the moment.

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Christopher Carlson’s Builds Meaning with Dialogue – Assignment #2

What I learned doing this assignment is using special dialogue to resonate with an audience in different ways in different parts of the story.

1^st Line, the reference to a far-off distant land as a destination

Peter, “Ian is asking where we’re going.” Helen, “To a far off distant land.

-first time, Helen uses it jokingly to Peter when he asks her where they’re going, though it is also a literal place, representing the small island on the lake near their home; for Helen, it embodies a special and sacred place

2^nd time, Peter, “May I take you to that far off distant land?” Helen, “Yes, please, dear Peter – take me there.”

– this time the line isn’t literally referring to the island, but is a metaphor for their private time together, far from prying eyes

3^rd time, when Peter and Helen prepare for their elopement, Helen uses the line as a metaphor for the wonderful future she’s anticipating with Peter, “Will you meet me in our far-off distant land?,” signifying the intended elopement planned for that night

2^nd Line: “If Teacher were with me …”

1^st time, Helen assures Peter that if Teacher were with them, she would act as a go-between and convince Kate that their relationship was the right thing for Helen

2^nd time, Helen uses the phrase to chastise her mother, stating that if Teacher were there, she would support Helen and Peter’s relationship

3^rd time, Peter uses the phrase to counter Kate’s argument against their marriage, which Kate absolutely refutes

4^th time, Helen says the phrase directly to Teacher, “If you had been with me, it would have been different,” to which Teacher replies, “So you say” – this response is certainly not the whole-hearted affirmation Helen may have expected, but rather an ambivalent reply, which likely suggests to the audience that nothing would have been different

3^rd line: Helen, “Life is a daring adventure, or nothing at all.”

1^st time, one of the filmmakers quotes it to Helen and Teacher, as a pretext to add ‘adventure and romance’ to their Hollywood film

2^nd time, Peter uses it with Helen to bolster his own trepidation re the plan to hide on the boat and escape with Helen at one of the ports along the way

3^rd time, Helen says it to Teacher when she’s explaining why she’s not angry with Peter’s decision not to marry her

[Heather Hood]

Heather’s Height of the Emotion
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What I learned doing this assignment is if I plan all this first, I won’t spend so much time searching for it after I’ve written the script. The problem is: there were so many emotional scenes in the script it was hard to narrow things down to just 5. As it was, I ended up doing 6.

1. Make a list of the 5 most emotional moments in your screenplay.

1. The third scene after Andrew has been found guilty and is led away in chains to the SS Sarmation. The dock workers line up to say goodbye to a man they respect.

Meaning of the scene: the crew of the HMMS Regent were not allowed to testify on Andrew’s behalf. His lieutenant, running down to the dock, asks if there is anything he can do for his family as the guards are dragging Andrew away. Andrew wants his grandson to grow up to be a good man. He asks the lieutenant to spend time with the boy, in a round about way that will help him deal with loss. It’s almost a biblical quotation, or that old joke about feeding a man for a day, or a lifetime. In a way, it foreshadows Andrew knowing he will never take Michael on the fishing trip he had planned.

· “Teach him to fish.”

2. In the first-class meal car, the waiter asks Andrew for payment for a bottle of whiskey and Andrew takes out his medals he has stuffed earlier in his pocket out of embarrassment for the grubby state of his uniform. The waiter sees them and realizes he has made an error in judgement. He asks Andrew if he may thank him for his service. This is supposed to get us thinking about how we judge others by the way they look, their age etc. Sometimes a little bit of kindness can make another person’s day. Or life.

· “Never seen a fighter knocked out by a handshake before.”

3. When Scottie dies.

Meaning of the scene: Just before he dies, Scottie laments that the buffalo are all gone. He dies telling what it was like to see a herd of them running on the plain. Andrew is recounting this to Jenny. He has seen so much ugliness at this point and is beginning to question his faith in his fellow man. This is pretty self explanatory: it says volumes about what we are doing to the world today.

· “What kind of people are we to think nothing of exterminating a species another race relied on? “

4. When Jian Min challenges Andrew to change his ways and act with honor.

Meaning of the scene: Andrew has only learned to fight to win. Jian Min is trying to teach him a different way to fight, one that has meaning, where a man fights for good and honor. Andrew still equates fighting with pain, fear and anger so he challenges Jian Min to explain what all his silly ‘dancing’ moves have to do with fighting and puts his fist through a crate. Jian Min responds with “Only a lost man fights that way.” Andrew, who looks like a beggar by now, flings up his arms and says, “Look at me!”

Hmm. So many of us are losing our jobs, our homes, our lives, but we don’t have to react with violence and protests, even tho we’re angry.

· “When all is lost, integrity remains.”

5. When Jian Min dies.

Meaning of the scene: Jian Min acts with unthinking honor, protecting the women and children of the Haida village from a marauding mother bear. Andrew arrives too late and starts to question his faith in God. Andrew doesn’t give a damn about race. It’s all about how a person lives their life. Jian Min has been mentor, friend, confidant and now he’s gone. Andrew’s arc is hitting rock bottom.

Jian Min is the face of Goodness in the world. He solves problems with diplomacy. He respects life and he shares his knowledge without asking anything in return. He is the Mentor Andrew aspires to be. Because of his deep-seated feelings of unworthiness, Andrew despairs of ever filling these shoes – yet he shoulders his duty as well. This is Andrew’s turning point.

· “We place people in boxes because of our differences, so we stop seeing all the good things about each other.”

OR

· “Integrity has nothing to do with race. You proved that.”

6. When Jenny learns her father is dead.

Michael throws away his fishing pole and runs down the Montreal wharf in grief, running into the Black mother, Elisa, Andrew helped in the beginning of the movie. Jenny’s V/O says:

· “We never know the impact our lives have on those we meet. Integrity must go before us like a beacon, to light the dark ways for others.”

This is a quote of her father’s she remembers, when she says all she has left of her father are his letters. (These are the letters the movie is based on.)

ASSIGNMENT 2

Heather Builds Meaning with Dialogue

What I learned doing this assignment is there is a lot of places you can build these meanings into the script to give it structure. But it’s important to have a good understanding of what you want to say with the movie before you start writing.

1. Select three (3) lines (from your script or lines you make up) that you want to build deep meaning around.

I only did 2 because it was getting pretty long.

1. The concept of Integrity: It’s a word most people don’t fully understand. It means an adherence to moral and ethical principals, a soundness of moral character and honesty. Maybe I am being too heavy handed in my application of the principals of integrity with these characters, but I’m leaving it up to the actors to determine that.

· “When all is lost, integrity remains”. Page 41 When Jian Min is teaching Andrew how to control his temper. ARC – Integrity speaks when everything is stripped away

· Jian Min – “We must all act with integrity, not anger.”

Rough Miner – “Whas’at mean?”

Mayor- “It means honor you bleatin’ fool.”

Rough Miner – “Well whyn’t he jus say so?”

Mayor – “Look at him Custer. He’s got more integrity in his left hand than you got in yer whole body.” Page 67 when they find the man who sold Jian Min’s daughter being lynched by a mob, and Jian min offers to act as the judge. (since he is one in China) ARC – A person with integrity can be trusted

· “Integrity has nothing to do with race”. Page 77 when Jian Min dies. ARC – Integrity is not restricted to a special race of people

· “Integrity must go before us like a beacon, to light the dark ways for others.” Pg 112 Jenny is remembering her father. ARC – Integrity will unite us.

· Perhaps a deeper meaning for people to take home might be: If you wish to be respected, behave with integrity, treat others fairly and honor life.

2. The concept of honoring life. Throughout the movie we see people being treated as if they are disposable: the Chinese huddled into camps now they are no longer needed for the railway. Indian refugees are thrown in there as well because the buffalo, their traditional food, has been hunted to extinction by the white trading companies. The black people who came to Canada to find freedom only found segregation instead of a welcome. The question, “What kind of people are we?” needs to be answered.

· “What kind of animal tosses a child over the side like so much filth?” pg 6 Andrew asks his barrister why they threw his nephew over the side for having a club foot. People are animals without compassion

· “Don’t matter what color your skin be if you poor.

·(sarcastic)

·Hell, we even got us our own lil town jus’ for colored folk. You gonna find that out real soon. Ain’t no one like your kind here.” Pg 22 a black warehouse worker tells Andrew what to expect because he’s Irish.ARC – People judge others by color and race

· The waiter holds out an imperious hand for payment.

·Andrew pats down his uniform for coins, takes his medals out of his pockets and casts them on the table. The waiter swallows.

·WAITER

·Captain, Sir. Forgive me. Would you allow me to thank you for your service?

·pg 25 ARC – People judge others by their outward appearance.

· “What kind of people are we to think nothing of exterminating a species another race relied on? “ pg. 30 ARC – People are more valuable than resources

· ”He’s just a worthless coolee. Probably die soon and you can bury him with the other one.” A Chinese railway worker is pinned by broken equipment while loading coal. The conductor doesn’t care. Andrew confronts him and is kicked off the train. Pg 32 Some races have less value than others. ARC – People are prejudiced.

· “He was not worthless. Neither are you. Come, let us contemplate beauty.” Jian Min’s son died building the railway. Andrew is getting tired of seeing how people are treated in this new country and resolves to stand up to it whenever he can. <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ARC – <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Confront the problem. Show empathy. Correct it if you can.

· JIAN MIN

“When all is lost, integrity remains”.

ANDREW

”Why do I need to learn this?”

JIAN MIN

”All life have value. Even enemy.” Andrew struggles with this. Pg. 41 This is such a foreign concept to Andrew who has lived with the idea that you overcome your enemies. Always. Jian Min is challenging him to think in a whole new way.

ARC: Confront the problem. Show empathy. Show mercy. <- Quinn says in the first act “ Mercy has never been your strongest quality, has it?”

· ANDREW

“I told you, I won’t kill you. Do you know why? Because a Captain’s word means something. “

He moves closer to him and whispers in his ear.

”You, sir, are not, have never, nor ever will be, a Captain. You’re just a pirate.” Pg 64 Seamus’ lack of compassion has gotten Connor killed. He doesn’t care and Andrew is furious. BUT he is acting with honor and strands Seamus on the beach at Ka’saan to suffer the same fate as his crew,( to be torn apart by the ghosts of Read Island.) Unfortunately this act of mercy turns Billy against him. ARC – Confront the problem. Do something about it.

· ANDREW

·”I could not save my nephew, it haunts me still. But I will save your daughter, if you’ll let me.”

·JIAN MIN

·”You honor me. Not everything solved by fight. Sometimes use diplomacy. You have heard of this?” Pg 74 The party is in Skagway at a Haida potlatch where they have found Meilin, married to one of the Haida who won her in a poker game. Because a Potlatch cannot be marred with unrest of any kind, they “Give away” the schooner to the Chief for her. A diplomatic solution. ARC – Confront the problem, find a solution.

· Turning the tables. To get the point across:

INT – HOUSE, TSIMSHIAN VILLAGE – NIGHT

All of the dialogue (ad libbed) is in Tsimshian. No translation is needed. The gestures say it all.

Andrew huddles against a wall trying not to shiver in the freezing night.

From the lewd gestures, several women are discussing the new slave’s ‘attributes’. This causes a heated argument.

One woman hauls Andrew to her bed to settle the argument. He is paralyzed with shock and doesn’t know what to do with this demanding lady. She is furious.

Kow-kayth pulls the curtain aside. The two women stare at each other.

KOW-KAYTH

(in Tsimshian, subtitled in English)

We are not like the dogs that invade our land.

Kow-kayth gives everyone a disgusted look and takes Andrew away.

The women look down, ashamed. Pg 99 Just to prove anyone can disrespect another’s life. It’s not just a ‘white’ problem, or a ‘black’ problem. Or even a woman’s problem. Men can be treated like objects too. It’s everyone’s problem. ARC – Confront the problem, deal with the problem, solve the problem properly.

[Julia Keefer]

What I learned is to distinguish the most emotional moments of the protagonist from his confrontation with the two villains, their emotional turning points, and general fear and questioning that precipitate narrative drive related to the high concept plot.

Make a list of the 5 most emotional moments in your screenplay. Just for Jake.

I added lines immediately to each action.

1) Jake and Rodney are doing CPR on Feldmans. Fuck this waterbed. Roll em over. They fucked for years on this waterbed. What the fuck? How could they both code at once? Supreme exertion, stress, fear. Then sorrow when his buddy Rodney also dies.

2) Passion when Jake makes love to Litonya, his widowed wife. Their baby Jesse crowns on the boat and comes out on land at the Palisades cliff. He is an amphibian, the new human! Fear, faith, then Joy.

3) Dad dies of ALS while Jake is massaging him. “I am going to a better world. I am a good Christian.” After he dies, Jake realizes he is scared of death and doesn’t want to think about it. He works out harder but is worried about his mom with Alzheimer’s.

4) Jake is desperate for Ibrahim to give him the shot to dissolve plaques but Ib says it isn’t ready although others have received it. Why are they hiding this research, this drug, when so many seniors need it? Jake: Mom’s death. She won’t let me do anything. DNR DNI. Lots of action in Acronyms. EMS is to undress with finesse, not oppress. CPR leaves a scar. DNR parks your car in the bar. DNI lets you die. They also serve who only stand and wait. It is great when your fate makes you lose weight unless it means you are sliding off the cliff of life. She is 90. That is enough time. What is enough? When I must do nothing to obey Mom’s will, I cannot rhyme or speak. Tragedy kills rhyme.

5) Litonya’s pulmonary fibrosis. I won’t take the shot. I don’t trust him or it. Coughing on the cliff. Once scars stick to tissue it’s hard to pry them off. Can you stop further scarring? Aging is the massacre of relentless entropy. Switching back to anabolism will cause cancer. Jake: I am shaking as the earth is quaking and we are aching but our kids are baking and making love.

Profound theme: They want the drugs and research but climate confrontation must be combined compassion, one of the themes of the trilogy. In other words, you can’t just fuck the frackers and drown the fossil fuelies but a new world is needed to survive climate crises.

Three recurring motifs throughout trilogy

1) Jake: Play is work, work is play, do it today, sing don’t say, never obey, don’t be a prey, pain will go away, roll in the hay, fear at bay. Rhyme makes time bounce.
In One, Jake wants to play instead of work, in Two, he makes work play with fitness, in Three, he wants to be more essential so he works until exhausted and decides that life should end with some play.
The Kids love Jake because they like to play.
Ibrahim: I don’t want to waste time playing so Jake is the nanny as well as the stud and seed service.

2) MM: Stay safe is the chant of the news, the way people abuse and use each other.
Jake: Stay safe and strong. It won’t be long before we are okay.
Ibrahim: Safety is a sequence. What comes first–the virus or the vaccine? The vaccine or the virus? It’s all about the dose. Too much or too little at the wrong time is poison; otherwise it is safe and effective. What comes first–the cure or the cause.

BB: Law is based on the sequence of crimes. If you kill before he pulls his gun it is murder but after it is self-defense. Never confess. Safety is in silence.
Joan: Doctors are supposed to keep patients safe but that is impossible.
Jean: People will pay millions for the illusion of safety.
Litonya: Safety is another human delusion.

3) Death

Jake: I am scared shitless of death. Dying sucks and suffering is torture. We must fight it with fitness.

Jean: I am going to a better place. I am a good Christian.
Joan: DNI DNR
Litonya: The earth is taking me back.
Sandrine: Il faut travailler son jardin.
BB: I made love to death my entire life so death doesn’t scare me. (Then his son is burnt to death.) This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Joe was never supposed to die before me. Silence is the only way to mourn him.

Ibrahim: Certain things are outside my control. That is why I submit to Allah. Science only goes so far. For a while I thought I could control fate but this flood that suddenly collapsed my condo, killed my wife, and injured my son was too sudden. But the larger goal is to save the earth with my kind on top.